Wii Fit - Development

Development

Wii Fit was first revealed as Wii Health Pack by Nintendo's chief game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, during a conference in mid-September 2006. Then described as a "way to help get families exercising together", the game idea had first been included in Miyamoto's original design document for a core group of games including Wii Sports and Wii Play, the entirety of which was scribbled onto a sheet of paper.

As with other games designed by Miyamoto such as Nintendogs, the design of Wii Fit was influenced by activities in his daily life. He states that he and his family had become more health-conscious, going to the gym and tracking their weight. He found that it had become "fun over time to talk about these things", and as weighing oneself "didn't make much of a game", Nintendo decided to build games around the idea to mesh with the concept. The Wii Balance Board had been worked on for "almost two years", and was inspired by sumo wrestlers' need to weigh themselves with two scales.

The game was announced under its current title at Nintendo's E3 press conference on July 11, 2007 and demonstrated by Miyamoto, Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime and other participants. Miyamoto revealed that Wii Fit had been developed with a "full-scale" team for a year at the time, and also stated that there were no plans to integrate WiiConnect24 functionality into the game. He did note, however, the possibility for taking advantage of WiiConnect24 in the future, such as using the service to keep in contact with a doctor to help with rehabilitation, or with a fitness specialist to help with training exercises.